Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/390
Fruit a capsule of three 2- valued cocci, ½-7/10in. diam., obscurely 6-lobed, globose, fleshy, pale-yellow, dehiscent when dry, sometimes reddish when ripe, acid, astringent, and bitterish, 3-celled, 6-seeded.
Uses : -The fresh juice is cooling, refrigerant, diuretic and laxative. The exudation from the incisions on the fruit is used as an external application in inflammation of the eye. (Dutt.)
In the fresh state they are round, of the size of a gall-nut, with six valves projecting externally ; pulp fleshy, acidulous, enveloping white angular seeds, and possessed of purgative properties. In the dry state they are roundish, sub-hexagonal, wrinkled, of a blackish-grey colour, slightly aromatic odour and acidulous astringent taste. In the latter state, they are employed in the process of tanning, and are highly valued as an astringent in bowel complaints. Bontius (Diseases of India, p. 200) testifies to their value in the treatment of diarrhœa and dysentery, in the hospitals of Batavia in his day. Antiscorbutic virtues have also been attributed to them by Dr. D. McNab (Calcutta Med. Phys. Trans., vol. viii., and Calcutta Quart. Med. Journ. 1837, vol. L, p. 306) ; but Dr. Irvine (Med. Topog. of Ajmeer, p. 118) is of opinion that they do not possess any peculiar virtue in this respect, and that they are not superior to any other acid vegetable astringent. He mentions that they contain a large proportion of gallic acid. The flowers of this tree are employed by the Hindu doctors for their supposed refrigerant and aperient qualities (Ainslie, Mat. Ind., vol. ii., p. 244). The bark partakes of the astringency of the ripe fruit. Dr. M. Ross reports having prepared from the root, by decoction and evaporation, an astringent extract equal to catechu, both for medicinal purposes and in the arts ; he adds that chips of the wood or small branches thrown into impure or muddy water, clear it effectually ; hence the wood is much employed by the natives in making well rings. This point is worthy of further inquiry. (Ph. Ind.) In the Concan, the juice of the fresh bark, with honey and turmeric, is given in gonorrhœa. (DymocL)